Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/88

, among firs of great size. While crossing the lake, I witnessed an extraordinary effect of the mirage caused by the rays of the evening sun. It covered the land to the west with a mist-like veil; and the ice, even close around us, appeared to dance with a strange undulating motion, as if tossed up and down on a heavy swell. I was walking about half a mile a-head of the rest of the party, and, chancing to look back, the people seemed to be seated on their sledges; but on their arrival at the encampment, when I taxed them with their laziness, they assured me that they had been on foot the whole time, and that I had also appeared to them in a recumbent attitude, borne forward as it were by some unseen power. Our dogs showing symptoms of sore feet, we equipped them all in shoes of white cloth.

After I had ascertained the latitude 56° 28′ 48.5″ N., we quitted our snug quarters at 3 of the 24th. Scarcely had we started when the weather became overcast and snowy; but we took our course, by compass, across the remaining section of the lake, to the celebrated Portage la Loche. The snow was very deep throughout this formidable barrier; and the white hares, which had been strangers to us since leaving